Recent content by etr221

My understanding is that the CTA (as such), which also includes the Isle of Man and Channel Islands, only covers travel, and relaxed checks on travellers - it came down to us, back in 1922-23, deciding we didn't want to establish a 'hard' border (with checks everywhere) between the (then new)...

My instant thought is that, once you've decided your ground rules, and assuming it's rail all the way (no bus or other non-rail gaps) with no branches/dead ends/doubling back, the itinerary will be fairly set, just a matter of which way round you go. Perhaps the only decision is whether you...

Would this actually have applied to 'British Isles', including Ireland (both parts) as well as GB, as journeys covered by RCH rather than UIC rules (which would have applied for journeys to continental Europe)? Can anybody confirm this? And state when treating journeys to and from Ireland as...

Or I would suggest looking at a Travelcard for the appropriate Zone - will depend on what other travelling you do.

On a global scale, all time, I suspect the record will be weeks, not days. On a slightly different topic, in 1939, on the outbreak of war, BBC television was summarily shut down, mid programme. On it's post war resumption in 1945, they started with the same programme. So anyone watching in 1939...

Which is fine until the driver makes a quick get away, closing the doors and shutting down the train. Before everybody had got off....

The classic story - apocryphal maybe, but with basis in how it was - was of someone who went to visit their friends who lived up country in one of the colonies, and when it was time to return, saw that train was at 12:00, and insisted on being at the station in ample time, over the protests of...

The LCDR's Metropolitan Extension - from Herne Hill - was opened in the mid 1860s; at about the same time as the SER's extensions to Charing Cross and Cannon Street. At that stage there was no connection between the SER and LCDR; that came in the 1870s when the SER thought a connection from its...

There was a turntable, and loco servicing facilities, at Ewer Street, which I think lasted into the early 1960s, probably the end of steam into Charing Cross/Cannon Street.

And earlier - going way back - Circle 5, H&C and Dist to Edgware Road 5, District Main Line 6 or 8, Met 4 or 8.

Not when the line was built, and it wasn't on the 1894 map. The widening of the line into Charing Cross was between then and 1902: my assumption is that the turn table was installed as part of that project.

Looking on the NLS website, they have editions of the relevant OS 25inch plan (TQ3080SE) surveyed in March (which has the TT) and June (which doesn't!) 1951.

Having been looking further, at vintage large scale OS maps, etc.: In the mid 1890s, there were two turntables (one each side of the line) at Cannon Street, still on the c1914 edition, and both gone by 1951 revision. At that time (mid 1890s) lines from Cannon Street to both London Bridge and...

Yes, the turntable is visible. Thinking it wasn't built for anything bigger than a 4-4-0...

I'm not sure what the original plan was: how things developed in the early days - the 1860s and 1870s - seems to have been interesting. Worth noting that Charing Cross opened first, Cannon Street not for another year or two. And initially a shuttle between the two was sensible: the Metropolitan...